Cambodia deal will eliminate visas for short-term travellers

By Marisa Chimprabha
Phnom Penh
Published on November 17, 2010


Thai and Cambodian residents will enjoy free across-border travel from next month after the two countries sign a visa-free agreement.

Thai and Cambodian Foreign Ministers Kasit Piromya and Hor Nam Hong will sign the agreement in the presence of their prime ministers, Abhisit Vejjajiva and Hun Sen, on Wednesday today.

The signing will take place during a meeting of the Ayeyawady-Chao Phraya-Mekong Economic Cooperation Strategy (Acmecs) in Phnom Penh.

Acmecs is a cooperative network of Cambodia, Laos, Burma, Thailand and Vietnam to optimise benefits of member countries’ diverse and complementary economic strengths, as part of the Asean Community.

The visa-free agreement, to be effective around December 18, will allow Thais to stay in Cambodia without a visa for 14 days and vice versa. Anyone wishing to stay longer than that must apply for a visa.

Under common practice, a tourist visa allows a visitor to stay for 30 days.

Kasit said the agreement was a starting point for cooperation under Acmecs’ single-visa scheme for its Five Countries, One Destination campaign.

He said the agreement would facilitate travel by people of both countries.

Asked to comment on whether human-smuggling activities and cross-border crimes would exploit the visa-free agreement, Kasit said the two countries’ crime-busting agencies would need to cooperate.

The first Acmecs Summit was held on November 12, 2003, in Bagan, Burma. The Bagan Declaration established the Acmecs framework and laid foundations for a plan of action covering five sectors of cooperation ��" trade and investment, agricultural and industrial cooperation, transport linkages, tourism cooperation, and human-resource development. Later at the Acmecs ministerial meeting in August 2005, public health was established as a sixth sector of cooperation.

Thailand hosted the second Acmecs Summit in Bangkok on November 3, 2005, to review progress on its implementation as well as set its future course. Acmecs leaders agreed on a declaration to forge even closer cooperation to meet the future needs of the subregion.

They also underscored the need for closer cooperation in dealing with trans-border diseases, especially bird flu, by signing the Declaration on Partnership in Combating Avian Influenza and Other Infectious Diseases. Thailand allocated US$2.5 million (now about Bt75 million) as a seed fund to support activities under the declaration.

In January 2007, the Acmecs leaders’ informal midterm-review meeting was held in Cebu, Philippines, as a sideline meeting to the Asean Summit, and leaders agreed to adopt the plan of action.

In 2008, the third Acmecs Summit was held in Vietnam, and issued a declaration to continue support on cooperation in trade and investment; agriculture; industry and energy; transport linkages; tourism; human-resources development; and public health, as well as expressing their support for environment cooperation.

On October 6, 2009, Thailand hosted the Acmecs senior officials’ meeting in Bangkok.